Lunch-Time Power Swim

18th January 2013

Imagine this scenario. You only have one hour for a lunchtime swim and that includes travelling to the pool and changing in and out of work clothes. Let’s say this gives you 30 minutes of actual swim time. What’s the best way of utilising such a short time and doing a swim workout that is going to produce results? If you want to make it count, you’ve got to swim fast and hard. If you intend to just plod along and do some slow laps it’s not worth the effort. So the swim workout below is designed to give you plenty of bang for your buck, and it’ll train you at your maximum capabilities.

Warning: You cannot do this session day after day, it’s too intense. But with a day or two in between, you can hammer this session repetitively and you will see the gains.

The Warm-Up

Start with a hard 200m front crawl swim. Time yourself. By hard, we mean go as fast as you can. The aim is to simulate race conditions where your heart rate goes from resting to anaerobic within seconds. This warm-up swim will get the blood flowing and ready for action.

Rest: One-minute only

The Sprints

8x25m front crawl sprints.
Rest for just five seconds after each one. Give your maximum effort with these short sprints, but after four of them take an extra 20 seconds rest. You deserve it.

Rest: 30 seconds only

The Kick Set

Kick with a board: 4x25m hard kick efforts, as fast as you can. Rest for 10 seconds after each repetition. Your legs should feel the burn, so make it count.

Rest: One minute only

The Mid-session recovery

Swim 200m easy active recovery with a pullbuoy (so you get a chance to rest your legs).

Rest: 30 seconds only

The Medley Set

Swim 4x75m: 25m front crawl at moderate pace, followed by
25m butterfly or breaststroke at moderate pace, followed by
25m freestyle at sprint pace. Rest for 20 seconds after each
75m effort.